Best SmartPhone for an airline pilot?

[zippy32]

Thanks for all the replies. This is a great thread.

I finally went to look at some of the phones today. I looked at the iPhone, Blackberrys (Pearl, 8820, Curve), Palm Treo, and the ATT 8525.

I have to be honest. The iPhone was very impressive compared to the others. The only real downsides I could find with the iPhone were:
- inability to work with Microsoft Word and Excel.
- QWERTY keyboard buttons were a little hard for my fat fingers (although I think that is the universal problem with smartphones)
- Can't get my Microsoft Outlook calendar on the iPhone (this is a true statement right?)

I know I only had a few minutes to mess around with all these phones in the store, but the others seemed so much harder to use. I'm just a caveman pilot. The iPhone is so simple a pilot could use it.

Thoughts?

 

[mvedepo]

I have had the iPhone. It was ok but more of a kids phone. IMO the 2 best smartphones out right now are:

The HTC Touch Pro (aka ATT Fuze)
http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/htc-touch-pro-sprint/4505-6452_7-33248637.html?tag=mncol;lst

and

The Blackberry Bold (aka Blackberry 9000)
http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/rim-blackberry-bold-at/4505-6452_7-33016450.html?tag=mncol;lst

Both are wonderful phones and each has higher pixel density than the iPhone and look awesome!

 

[dickie q]

And here is the logbook app for your iPhone...

http://web.me.com/fltcrewresources/FCL/Home_Page.html

 

[~~~^~~~]

I have the treo 650. I like it, but would like faster internet. Do you guys recommend upgrading to the 755p? Is there a big dif. from the 750p? Is a newer version soon to be released?

Also, for the treo, there used to be a cool program called flightstatus.

+1 for the Treo. I've had almost all of them and currently run the 755P. I don't know if I would upgrade from the 650. The browser is faster, it syncs better and the case a little easier to hold, but those are the only real differences. Unless you link to your laptop, I'm not sure the EVDO is a big enough deal to justify the move and I don't care for the Mini SD port. I liked the 650's SD card better.

I like the Palm version because the Apps are "lighter" and easier to drive from the 5 way button and menu keys. I track business expenses and mileage using a cheap little $9 program with all the categories set up for my Schedule C. I also built MSExcel programs for my aircraft log book and maintenance.

The 755P has high speed over Sprint's network, which you can tie to your laptop via bluetooth connection, making it a super cheap way to stay connected.

ALPA has a deal for $60 (or $65) a month with 3,000 Nights & Weekends, 1,000 minutes of talk time, unlimited text and data.

Battery holds up fine over a 4 day trip, which is an advantage over the iPhone.

It can play movies & music if that's what you want. I use the business applications mostly, but there is nothing this phone will not do. Some folks link it to a GPS via bluetooth and it ships with Google Maps and Traffic which simply downloads from Google with real time data, for free. On overnights it is nice to be able to use this tool to plan your run, or just know where all the resturaunts are.

The browser is fast and I have all the airlines' WAP pages, Aviation WX, and DUATS links. If you are domestic, there really isn't any drawback to the Treo.

Many iPhone users are complaining about screen failures. If you get one of these covers for your Treo, you will not drop it as much and they are built tough enough to survive life at the bottom of your flight case.

http://store.treocentral.com/smartphone-experts-ultraslim-skincase/4A54A1539.htm

 

[monkeybrains01]

Whatever you decide on...under no circumstances should you wear your cellphone in a holster attached to your belt. It is a bad look, unless of course you're wearing cowboy boots with white socks, then it's fine.

 

[Noserider76]

I heard there are some lawsuit going on with customers vs. At&T/Apple.
whe you take iPhone out of US, it will still try to update the email acct. so you can be charged a lot.
Do a search on the phone.

Fly safe,


Dream2fly

No problem. You just disable data roaming when you get there and no extra charges. ATT works great in the majority of the countries I've flown to.

 

[SoberIrishman]

Blackberry 8830 from Verizon. Have used it for years, and it's a great phone for international trips. Step off the plane in Europe, and it switches to GSM automatically. You start getting your emails right away. Also you can surf the internet abroad.
In the US, it can be tethered to a laptop with one USB cable, and a few clicks later you are on the web using the phone as a modem. Beats excessive hotel charges to log on.

New one coming, except it will be like the i-phone. Called the Blackberry Storm I think, also from Verizon.

 

[Dirty Sanchez]

I´ll 3rd the Blackberry 8830.....I have had it for about 3 months now with NO complaints.
I got it for the ability to surf any internet page I wanted and the email functions are easily the best out there.
I left ATT/Cingular after 9 yrs and am very happy with Verizon so far, coverage and customer service both are better.

It's great. Every time you go into a different time zone it requires you to manually make the change. There is nothing like forgetting to do that and getting your wake-up alarm in EST when you are in MST. Appointments can only be in one time zone also, so you will not be able to import your schedule.

If you are trying to kill time on productivity sits by checking your email and facebook, it is fine. If you actually plan to use it as a scheduling tool and you travel then it is terrible.

 

[bmxandjets]

iPhone.....all the way.

 

[Draginass]

I DO NOT recommend Verizon's Dare phone. It's a piece of junk compared to my friends' iphones. Sort of a slightly smaller version of an iphone. The Dare is difficult to use, the touch screen is difficult to manipulate, you can't use other apps for email and you can't open attachments, and the screen is too small and the internet is really slow and only marginally useful.

 

[Flying the Line]

- Can't get my Microsoft Outlook calendar on the iPhone (this is a true statement right?)


Yes you can sync all of your outlook calendar, contacts, ect to your Iphone. You do it through I tunes and it works well. Great apps.

 

[FlyboyPhil]

I Have the HTC mogul as well, I have found that downloading opera mini makes it work with most of the webpages that explorer balks at. I haven't had your problem with the alarms, after some experimentation I set up my alarms so that they go off every day of the week, then after I have changed time zones activate one of them and adjust the time for my wakeup call, and as always use the hotel for a backup.
I have had the phone lockup quite a bit, but the new software update fixed most of that, also be aware of the soft reset, insert the stylus into the hole next to the mini USB port and you can skip the battery removal for all but the most stubborn lockups.
Biggest con for me on the Mogul is that you must use their mini USB headset or the supplied adapter with a phone earpiece, it has no audio jack, just the USB charging port. They don't supply an adapter for stereo headphones so my noise canceling headset doesn't mate up with it.
ymmv